A process task can be used to invoke a BPMN 2.0 process from a case.

A process task is a regular task that requires an attribute processRef which references a process definition by its key. Such a process task can be defined as follows:

<processTask id="checkCreditProcess" name="Check credit" processRef="checkCreditProcess" />

The referenced process definition is resolved at runtime. This means that the process can be deployed independently from the calling case, if needed.

A process task in state ENABLED can be started manually using the CaseService as follows:

caseService.manuallyStartCaseExecution("aCaseExecutionId");

When the process task instance becomes ACTIVE, a new process instance is launched. In the above example a new process instance of the process checkCreditProcess is created.

If a process task is blocking (i.e., the attribute isBlocking is set to true), the process task remains ACTIVE until the process instance associated with the process task is completed. After a successful completion of the called process instance, the corresponding process task completes automatically. It is not possible to complete a blocking process task manually.

In case of a non-blocking (the attribute isBlocking is set to false) task, the process task is not waiting for the process instance to complete and completes immediately after its activation and calling its associated process.

Note: The default value for the attribute isBlocking is true. To define a non-blocking process task the attribute isBlocking must be set to false as follows:

<processTask id="checkCreditProcess" name="Check credit" processRef="checkCreditProcess" isBlocking="false" />

Transactional Behavior

The activation of the process task as well as the creation and execution of the process instance are performed in the same transaction. The transaction is executed until a wait state or an asynchronous continuation is reached inside the called process instance (for further details read the Transactions in Processes section of the user guide). To launch a process instance asynchronously it is possible to declare the process’ start event as asynchronous with the XML attribute asyncBefore="true" (see Asynchronous Instantiation).

Process Binding

By default, the process task creates a new process instance of the latest process definition with the specified key. To specify a different version of a process, it is possible to define a binding with the Camunda custom attribute processBinding. The following values are allowed for the attribute processBinding:

• latest: use the latest process definition version (which is also the default behavior if the attribute is not defined)
• deployment: use the process definition version that is part of the calling case definition’s deployment (note: this requires that a process with the specified key is deployed along with the case definition)
• version: use a fixed version of the process definition, in this case the attribute processVersion is required

The following is an example of a process task that calls the checkCreditProcess process with version 3.

<processTask id="checkCreditProcess" processRef="checkCreditProcess"
  camunda:processBinding="version"
  camunda:processVersion="3">
</processTask>

Note: It is also possible to use an expression for the attribute processVersion that must resolve to an integer when the task is executed.

Process Tenant Id

When the process task resolves the process definition to be called it must take into account multi tenancy.

Default Tenant Resolution

By default, the tenant id of the calling case definition is used to resolve the called process definition. That is, if the calling case definition has no tenant id, then the process task resolves a process definition using the provided key, binding and without a tenant id (tenant id = null). If the calling case definition has a tenant id, a process definition with the provided key and the same tenant id is resolved.

Note that the tenant id of the calling case instance is not taken into account in the default behavior.

Explicit Tenant Resolution

In some situations it may be useful to override this default behavior and specify the tenant id explicitly.

The camunda:processTenantId attribute allows to explicitly specify a tenant id:

<processTask id="checkCreditProcess" processRef="checkCreditProcess"
  camunda:processTenantId="TENANT_1">
</processTask>

If the tenant id is not known at design time, an expression can be used as well:

<processTask id="checkCreditProcess" processRef="checkCreditProcess"
  camunda:processTenantId="${ myBean.calculateTenantId(variable) }">
</processTask>

An expression also allows using the tenant id of the calling case instance instead of the calling case definition:

<processTask id="checkCreditProcess" processRef="checkCreditProcess"
  camunda:processTenantId="${ caseExecution.tenantId }">
</processTask>

Exchange Variables

The Camunda custom extensions elements in and out allow to exchange variables between the process task (in a case instance) and the process instance that it creates: in elements of a process task map case variables to input variables of the launched process instance and out mappings of a process task map output variables of the process instance to case variables, e.g.,:

<processTask id="checkCreditProcess" name="Check credit" processRef="checkCreditProcess">
  <extensionElements>
    <camunda:in source="aCaseVariable" target="aProcessVariable" />
    <camunda:out source="aProcessVariable" target="anotherCaseVariable" />
  </extensionElements>
</processTask>

In the above example, the value of the input variable aCaseVariable is passed to the newly created process instance. Inside the process instance, the value of the input variable aCaseVariable is available as aProcessVariable. After successful completion of the called process instance, the value of the output variable aProcessVariable is passed back to the calling process task where it can be accessed by the name anotherCaseVariable.

In addition, it is possible to use expressions:

<processTask id="checkCreditProcess" name="Check credit" processRef="checkCreditProcess">
  <extensionElements>
    <camunda:in sourceExpression="${x+5}" target="y" />
    <camunda:out sourceExpression="${y+5}" target="z" />
  </extensionElements>
</processTask>

Assuming y is not updated by the process instance, the following holds after the process task completes: z = y+5 = x+5+5.

Source expressions are evaluated in the context of the called process instance. That means, in cases where calling and called case/process definitions belong to different process applications, context like Java classes, Spring or CDI beans are resolved from the process application the called process definition belongs to.

Furthermore, the process task can be configured to pass all variables to the called process instance and to pass all variables of the process instance back to the associated process task:

<processTask id="checkCreditProcess" name="Check credit" processRef="checkCreditProcess">
  <extensionElements>
    <camunda:in variables="all" />
    <camunda:out variables="all" />
  </extensionElements>
</processTask>

Note: The variables keep their names.

It is possible to decide at runtime which variables are mapped into the called process instance. This can be declared with the local attribute on the camunda:in element as follows:

<processTask id="checkCreditProcess" name="Check credit" processRef="checkCreditProcess">
  <extensionElements>
    <camunda:in variables="all" local="true"/>
  </extensionElements>
</processTask>

With this setting, only local variables are going to be mapped. These can be set via the CaseService before starting the process instance. Consider the following code to manually start a process task:

caseService
  .withCaseExecution(processTaskExecutionId)
  .setVariable("var1", "abc")
  .setVariableLocal("var2", "def")
  .manualStart();

With local="true" for the in mapping, only var2 is mapped into the called process instance.

Pass a Business Key

In addition to exchanging variables, it is possible to pass a business key to the called process instance. Since a business key is immutable, this is one way mapping. It is not possible to have output mapping for a business key.

The following example shows how the business key of the calling case instance can be passed to the called process instance. In this case, the calling case instance and the called process instance end up with the same business key.

<processTask id="checkCreditProcess" name="Check credit" processRef="checkCreditProcess">
  <extensionElements>
    <camunda:in businessKey="#{caseExecution.caseBusinessKey}" />
  </extensionElements>
</processTask>

If the business key of the called process instance should be different than the business key of the calling case instance, it is possible to use an expression that, for example, references a variable:

<processTask id="checkCreditProcess" name="Check credit" processRef="checkCreditProcess">
  <extensionElements>
    <camunda:in businessKey="#{customerId}" />
  </extensionElements>
</processTask>

Camunda Extensions